Love Protects Us from Blindness
by EF3540
Summary: After being held captive for three years, Hinata is saved by Team Gai. Upon returning to the village, Hinata and Team Gai learn that she has been replaced by an intruder. Yuri and yaoi pairings e.g. Hina/Ten, Neji/Lee. Don't like, don't read.
1. PseudoHyuuga

Hey, this is my first fanfiction. This is a pairing that, though seemingly ridiculous, is very dear to me. It's kind of ironic how the characters of my favourite Naruto pairing share voice actors with the main characters of my favourite yuri anime, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

Now for the general disclaimer:  
I don't own Naruto. I own this plot, nothing else.

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General information

_Flashback  
_

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Transforming into another person wasn't always as simple and humane as it is today. Originally, people had to use body parts to transform into another person. For example, if you wanted to change your skin tone you would have to use a piece of skin, if you were to change your hair colour you would need the person's hair. There were issues that arose with this technique. A chakra imbalance caused a transfer of kekkei genkai. This only usually occurred with dojutsu, the Byakugan, Sharingan and Rinnegan. This technique is rarely used, however, every so often, a foetal deformity would occur and these barbaric practices would remain a requirement for those who suffered from an underdeveloped chakra system.  
**  
**"Okay, here's what I'm going to do." Karin explained to her frightened victim, "First, I shall skin your hand. Then, I'll take that hair, lucky we have the same length. Finally, you'll love this; I'll rip out one of your eyes." As she finished explaining this she resumed her task. The poor girl she was terrorising screamed in pain as the Uzumaki attacking her gathered the supplies needed for her technique. As Karin propelled her hand toward the pale girl's face, the noise of an eye being plucked from a skull could not be heard under the cries that echoed throughout the cave. "Poor little Hyuuga, well your friends and family won't be upset about it. In fact, they'll be ecstatic about your return home." Karin said. A flash of light filled the cave and a perfectly healthy Hinata Hyuuga stepped out of the cave.

Hinata was in terrible pain. Hinata was thankful that Karin had, at least, bandaged her wounds.  
'She doesn't was her 'supply' to die before she achieves her goal.' Hinata guessed. Although her wounds had been dressed, she continued to lose blood at an alarming rate. Her head began to feel light as she heard three very familiar voices at the entrance to the cave.  
"Neji, why are we doing this job again? This kind of mission is usually managed by Team 8. I mean, we're a combat team. We aren't meant for this kind of work." Hinata was able to put a name to that voice very easily. It was Tenten.  
"Maybe you have forgotten that Hinata-sama is missing and therefore Team 8 is one man short." Neji sounded extremely angry. His sigh could be heard from the back of the cave. "I'm sorry Tenten. I'm just worried about Hinata."  
"The kunoichi we were sent after is said to be extremely intelligent, so why would she stay near a commonly used path? Neji, are you sure that the trail lead to this cave?" Obviously, the final voice was Lee. As Team Gai fell silent, Hinata succumbed to the darkness that crept up on her as she continued to bleed profusely.

In a final attempt to get help, Hinata began to move around in the chair in hopes of forcing it to topple over.

As Hinata struggled in the chair, it began to over-balance. Gravity took control, pulling the chair to the cold, hard floor of the cave. A loud bang resonated to the entrance, alerting Team Gai.  
"What was that noise?" asked Rock Lee in his usual, loud voice. As the team moved cautiously through the darkness, Neji activated his Byakugan. The veins around his eyes bulged, signalling the activation of the Byakugan and allowing him to see through the darkness. The Hyuuga prodigy was startled by what was in front of him. During this time his teammates had gotten into a defensive position.  
"It's alright. It's just a girl. She seems to have been tortured repeatedly." Neji deduced as he assessed the situation.

As soon as Hinata's hands and feet had been freed, she became limp. Neji checked her pulse, fearing that the girl had died. He let out a sigh of relief when he felt the soft beating of her pulse.  
"She's alive but only barely. We have finished our mission so we'll head back to the village as soon as we can." He picked the unconscious girl up off the ground and Team Gai headed back to their campsite.

As the Hyuuga heiress's eyelids opened she began attempting to identify her surroundings. The girl was surrounded by an orange tent with enough room for three people.  
"At least it isn't a cave." she said to no one in general. She raised a hand to touch the place wear her stolen eye had once been. Instead of skin there was a patch of leather covering her left eye socket. In order to inspect the material further, she removed the patch and looked at it, shutting her left eyelid.  
"Just as I thought; it is an eye patch. It isn't a great one but it does the job." Hinata muttered, returning the eye patch to it's intended position. As son as it was back in place the tent door opened and Tenten stepped through.

"Good, you're awake. My teammates and I had begun to think you were never going to wake up." It was obvious that she didn't recognise the Hyuuga in front of her. Hinata wasn't all that surprised. It had been three years since anyone from the Leaf had seen her, plus, when people thought of Hinata Hyuuga, the words scars, blood and torture didn't usually come to mind.  
"Are you a Hyuuga? I mean, your eye has the same traits as those of the Hyuuga clan." Hinata nodded.  
"Yes I am a Hyuuga." she answered. Her voice would have been a dead giveaway if it wasn't as hoarse as it had been at that moment. It wasn't a surprise to Hinata. Calling for help for three straight years will do that to your voice.  
"You haven't got the Caged-Bird Seal, interesting. There is only one Hyuuga around our age like that and she…" Tenten never finished her sentence. Her eyes widened as the rest of Team Gai entered the tent.

"Tenten, have you found out anything about her yet?" Neji asked. Lee looked at the girl's face.  
"What is it Tenten?" he asked, getting worried at his teammate's expression. Tenten appeared to have forgotten how to speak, leaving Hinata to do the explaining.  
"Hello Neji." the heiress said casually. He looked at his cousin with the same expression as Tenten. Lee was the most normal out of the three of them, a fact that scares the other three people who were in the tent to this day. Tenten regained her ability to use her voice.  
"Hinata?"

Tenten couldn't believe that Hinata was alive. The girl had changed, though, and not for the better. As Tenten had realised who Hinata was, she began felt sick to her stomach at the thought of someone torturing kind, caring Hinata. She didn't begin to speak again until the sun retreated behind the mountains. As the boys retreated to the second tent that they has set up, as space would be an issue, the girls became engulfed in conversation.

"What happened Hinata? Who did this to you?" Tenten asked, becoming uncomfortable with the cold, stone-like aura that surrounded her. She had changed a lot.  
"Karin of the Sound did this. It seems that this was required in order for her to use a transformation jutsu." she said, glancing at her wound; her voice was hoarse and retained a monotonous sound. Whatever she went through destroyed the little humanity she had left. Much of her humanity had been lost the day she became a genin.

_Hinata was ecstatic; finally, a kunoichi. She eventually reached the front door of the Hyuuga compound. As a sharp knock sounded on the front door a branch family member opened it. As the woman bowed and moved for the Heiress to enter the foyer, she smiled at Hinata after seeing the hitai-ate around her neck.  
_"_Congratulations, Hinata-sama." She said. It was a well-known fact that Hinata was well liked among those of the branch family. She never once used the Caged-Bird Seal against them, stating that she wished that there was no seal.  
_"_Thank you, Haruka." As Hinata walked through the hallway she realised that the compound was eerily quiet. The dripping sound that was apparent to Hinata as she opened the kitchen door sent a chill up the girl's spine. As soon as her mind caught up with her eyes she understood the off feeling.  
__  
Hiashi Hyuuga ran down the stairs after a scream for help made its way to his study. He followed the branch family members as they headed towards the kitchen. The door was wide open. He looked down and saw that the floor was drenched in blood. As his eyes travelled further into the kitchen he saw his daughter sitting in the centre of the blood, eyes wide with fear. Next to her was the cold, lifeless body of his wife. She had been stabbed through the chest with a familiar katana. It bore the insignia of the Hidden Cloud Village._

As the kunoichi sat in the darkness Tenten realised how hard life must have been for Hinata. Neji had already told her of the horrible things that had happened to his cousin over the years but it was at that point that the older girl started to believe that a higher power was trying to send her round the bend.  
"Hinata, I want you to know that I am always here if you need someone to talk to." Tenten explained in an attempt to reassure her haunted friend. Suddenly, Hinata caught her friend in a rib-cracking hug and finally let go of all of her bottled-up emotions. As the brunette returned the embrace, Hinata unload all of the sadness that had been eating away at her over the years. As she continued to cry Tenten began to see the lonely little girl she had first known Hinata to be. She needed someone to protect her and Tenten decided that day that she would be that someone.

'Wow Tenten's warm and very comfortable.' Hinata thought as the two girls remained in that wonderful embrace. At the time, the Hyuuga didn't understand why she had thought that. Tenten looked down at her friend.  
"Are you okay Hinata?" she asked, placing her hand on the girl's forehead. It wasn't apparent to Hinata that she had turned a wonerful shade of scarlet. Tenten obviously assumed that the girl was sick. Hinata then let her go and sat up.  
"I'm fine." Even after Hinata had said this, the older girl in front of her retained some sort of physical contact at all times during the night.

When they woke the next morning, Hinata realised that Tenten had her arms wrapped around her from the back. The logical part of her mind told the girl to get out of that position but the louder part yelled for her to stay there. She obeyed the second voice and placed her hands on the brunette's.

'What am I doing?' Hinata thought, her head spinning slightly. 'I like Naruto, don't I? I'm not gay, but how do I explain the way I feel for Tenten? Maybe it's just a lack of affection. Yeah, that must be it. Although the way I feel around Tenten is a much better feeling than how I feel around Naruto. It makes me wish I could just stay like this forever. The world could end today and I wouldn't care, as long as I was with Tenten… OH GOD, I am gay.' Then she thought of something important. 'What do I say to Tenten? How would she react to my feelings? Would she hate me?'

As Hinata's internal monologue decided to end the tent door opened and Neji stepped in.  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HINATA?" he yelled, partially waking Tenten.  
"THE CLOWNS ARE GOING TO EAT ME!" she yelled.  
'I never knew Tenten was scared of clowns.' Hinata thought, smiling at her ideas about using that fact as blackmail.  
"Neji I wasn't doing anything." Tenten obviously hadn't realised the position they were in.

"You are in the same sleeping bag and you're holding her in your sleep." he said, getting angrier.  
"You do worse with Lee." Hinata interjected, not about to let Neji talk to her Tenten like that.  
'Wait, when did she become _my _Tenten?' She brushed off her little internal slip-up as Neji left the tent.

The girls climbed out of the sleeping bag and packed up the tent and supplies, ready to start their journey home.

As Team Gai and Hinata began the journey back to the village, Tenten realised that Lee and Neji were holding hands. She looked over at Hinata and saw that the girl was smiling at the show of affection in front of her. She was much more open-minded about this kind of thing than the other girls around their age. As Tenten looked back toward the path in front of them, she felt Hinata's Hand close around her's. When the girl looked at her friend, she realised that the girl retained a straight face, as if nothing had happened.

"What are you…" Tenten began. Hinata silenced her when she put a finger on older girl's lips to stop her talking.  
"Shhhhh." Hinata removed her finger and kissed her. The boys turned around in time to see what they were doing.  
"Isn't that wonderful, Neji. They have found love." Lee said, a broad grin appearing on his face.  
"Are you two quite done?" Neji asked. The girls broke apart and walked the rest of the way, enjoying a comfortable silence.

* * *

I hope you guys liked it. Hinata's internal conflict is actually exactly the same as what I went through, save for the names. Originally, this story didn't include it but my friend read it and told me that Hinata's coming out to herself was a little abrupt so I just wrote down what I went through.


	2. Return to the Village

It's gonna be difficult for me to update as it is my last year of school but you're in luck. I am currently suffering from insomnia so I will be able to write at night. Anyway, enough chit-chat, let's continue with this messed-up piece of fanfiction.

Again, I don't own Naruto, so stop asking me. Damn lawyers.

General information

_Flashbacks_

Karin arrived at her destination about two days after leaving the cave. As she walked up to the entrance, a boy around her age with hair that makes anyone who doesn't know him think of a pineapple stopped the girl. He had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"State your name and purpose for requesting entry to this village." he said. He was obviously a Jounin and from the information Karin had gathered about the newest generation of Chunin and Jounin, she concluded that he must have been Shikamaru Nara.

"My name is Hinata Hyuuga. My reason for being here is, well, I live here Shikamaru." The boy at the entrance looked up from the clipboard in his hand. His mouth fell open, allowing the cigarette to fall to the ground. He quickly composed himself.

"Welcome back. I need proof, however, of your identity. It's just a formality." he said. The Nara boy called over a young Hyuuga female. "Hanabi, can you please check for any transformations or genjutsu." The girl nodded.

'Hanabi, Hinata's sister.' Karin told herself as the young Hyuuga activated her Byakugan. As she scanned over her body, the transformed teen smiled inward.

'This is the original procedure involving transformation jutsu. The Byakugan cannot see through it.' Karin thought.

"I can't find any evidence of a transformation or genjutsu." she said, a smile on her face.

"Go in then. Everyone will be so happy to see you again." The pseudo-Hinata entered the village. 'This is going to be easy.'

As she approached the village, Hinata began to feel that small amount of joy that went missing three years before. She was walking with Tenten, behind the boys. As they approached the village, Hinata saw her; Karin of the Sound. Tenten saw the look on the girl's face and saw what she was staring at.

"Is that her?" she asked, getting nervous about how Hinata would react. The younger girl's eyes went blank as she nodded. The boys looked back, reacting to the cold aura that was quickly engulfing the group.

'This is bad.' Neji thought. He had seen this look on her before. 'Hinata, control yourself. Don't let the enemy suspect anything.' Neji knew that when Hinata presented that blank expression, she would lose all reasoning skills. This had only ever happened once before.

_Hinata was in a state of shock as she watched the blood pour out of the wound in her mother's chest. The light in Hinata's eyes disappeared as tears began to pool within them and a blood-curdling scream echoed through the compound. As Hiashi, Neji and the many Hyuuga ran to the doorway separating them from the kitchen another scream was heard. Hiashi, worried about his family's safety, opened the door to find the Hyuuga heiress curled into a ball, covered in blood. As he moved closer in order to check if his daughter had sustained any injuries, he was thrown off-guard by a strike to his abdomen, causing him the cringe in pain The whole time, Hinata was screaming at her father as if he was to blame. He didn't expect his normally fragile and weak daughter to have this much strength hidden inside her. As he attempted to comfort his distressed child again, he was attacked, this time struck across his face. As he looked into Hinata's eyes, he saw that she had gained her mother's greatest weakness as a kunoichi… empathy._

"Tenten, be careful. By now she will have lost all ability to see reason. She is likely the lash out at anyone near her." Neji warned, confused about the reason behind Hinata's lack of violence.

'It may be worse than I thought. She isn't acting violently because she has lost her sense of compassion. Please, don't do anything stupid Hinata.' he thought, getting nervous about what may happen at the time of the inevitable confrontation.

"Welcome back Team Gai. Was your mission successful?" Shikamaru asked as the group of teenagers made it to the entrance of the village. Tenten and Hinata remained behind the boys, attempting to avoid too much attention.

"Our mission was successful. We now know what the kunoichi is doing at this very moment and also how she is pulling it off." Neji explained. As the team entered the village Shikamaru grabbed the collar of Hinata's t-shirt. Everyone was surprised but thankful when she didn't retaliate to her being man-handled.

"Who is this?" he asked. The team knew that if they lied, Shikamaru would know about it. They had to risk it; revealing Hinata's identity at this moment would be, as Shikamaru often told them, a waste of a valuable piece in their strategy.

"We don't really know." Tenten explained, thinking on her feet. "We found her half dead in a cave and apparently she has no memory of who she is or how she ended up in that cave. We were hoping that the Hokage would allow us to request the assistance of the Yamanaka clan." Neji and Lee were impressed by Tenten's uncanny talents of deception. Even Shikamaru seemed to believe her.

"Alright, we will take her to the Hokage as soon as possible. Your sensei would like to speak with you first." he said, allowing them all to pass. As the quartet passed the Ichiraku ramen stand, a loud and familiar voice startled them.

"Hey Naruto, guess who is back." Sakura Haruno said, scaring everyone inside the restaurant.

"Who is it? Where have they been? Why didn't we know they were going to leave?"

"Naruto… breathe." Sakura reminded, calming the boy down. "It's Hinata."

Then team continued on as Sakura told everyone of Hinata's return.

"Stupid girl. I hate people like that. She is getting everyone's hopes up about an imposter." Tenten said. Her teammates nodded, showing they agreed. As they reached the door to the Hokage's office, the fake Hinata's voice could be heard. Neji grabbed Tenten's arm, knowing that the girl was ready to bust the door and Karin's face. They all stood in front of Hinata as Karin exited the office.

"Brother, I've missed you." Karin said. She was good at copying a person's personality and pet-peeves.

'You are no sister of mine.' Neji thought as he forced a smile onto his face. As the girl left, a voice called from the office.

"Team Gai, you may enter." The quartet entered. Upon seeing the mystery girl, who was at that moment staring at the door as if she had a bone to pick with it, the Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"Who is she?" she whispered to Tenten, pointing at the girl who was still glaring at the door.

"We aren't sure. She seems to have amnesia and therefore cannot remember her own name. She was half dead when we found her. Seems like she was tortured." Tsunade wracked her brain for a solution. Then Neji stepped forward.

"If we could gain assistance from the Yamanaka clan then we could check her memories for the events leading up to her memory loss." he suggested. The Hokage nodded and called Sakura into the room.

"Sakura, find Ino and tell her to prepare for a memory search." the woman ordered. Sakura looked over at Hinata, who had by then walked over to the window.

"Who is she?" she asked, pointing at Hinata. Everyone in the room shrugged, a gesture that only made the girl more curious.

"We don't know and that's why I have asked you to get Ino." Tsunade sighed, knowing that her apprentice wouldn't give up.

"But…" Sakura started. Tenten started to get pissed off. She wanted to make Hinata happy

"NO BUTS PINKY! GO AND GET YOUR FRIEND AND THEN MAYBE YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED!" Everyone, including Hinata and Tsunade stared at Tenten in fear. She had never been like that before. Neji knew that Tenten was just frightened for Hinata's wellbeing. When they turned their attention back to the door, a cloud of dust lingered on the spot where the pink-haired girl had just been.

"So, what you're saying is that this girl appeared out of nowhere? Hmm, I'll get dad to set up the memory seals." The blond said, leaning on the counter of her parents' flower shop. "So anyway, tell me more about Tenten's little outburst."

"I've never seen her act like that before. It was so strange. I was asking who the girl was and I guess She got impatient." Sakura explained, still bewildered by the way the brunette had acted.

"Forehead, this is Tenten we're talking about. She doesn't get impatient… unless the person is important to her." Ino said, realising that she had acted like this before.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember Temari?" Sakura nodded, "Well, when we were telling her off after the whole Konoha invasion thing Tenten reacted the same way as she did in the Hokage's office." Ino said, thinking Sakura knew of Tenten's… preferences.

"What are you getting at? They were best friends." Ino face-palmed.

"You idiot, they were dating."

"Wait, Tenten's a lesbian? Actually, that isn't all that surprising. Hang on that means that she likes that girl in the office." Ino nodded.

"I also think that Team Gai knows who she is but they are trying to prove something. I'll explain it to Shikamaru and see what he thinks." At that, Sakura left. Ino told her dad of the Hokage's request and headed toward the entrance in search of Shikamaru.

After telling Shikamaru the story, Ino stepped back to allow the boy to assume his trademark strategy/analysis pose. After about ten minutes, Shikamaru stood, a sign that he had thought of possible explanations.

"Perhaps the girl is originally from this village. It would explain why Team Gai is so calm around her and why they insist on using your clan's memory search jutsu. I need you to get a description of the girl for me so that I find out who she is and why they are hiding her identity." Shikamaru deduced. Ino nodded and ran off in search of the mystery girl. As soon as she arrived in the village centre, Ino ran head first into a familiar figure. After further inspection, the dull lightbulb in her head brightened.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING… Ah! Sorry Ino." Hinata said. Ino's eyes widened at the strange outburst and informal speech, things that were never heard from Hinata.

"Um, that's okay Hinata. I was off in my own little world." Ino said trying to figure out the strange behaviour of the only Hyuuga that she considered her friend. Hinata walked past her and toward the Hyuuga compound. 'That was strange.' Ino thought as she watched the girl leave.

As Ino walked through the village trying to find the mysterious girl she tried to think of where she could be.

"It's around 6 o'clock, so perhaps she is eating dinner… Although, I have been to every restaurant in town, so that's out of the question. Maybe she is staying with Team Gai." Ino began to run in the direction of the apartments. "If she were to stay with them then she would be with Tenten." After around five minutes of running, the Yamanaka heiress arrived outside Tenten's apartment. She looked inside to find the two girls talking at the dining room table.

"Thanks for letting me stay with you Tenten." Hinata said, as she stirred her cup of ramen with her chopsticks. The older girl smiled slightly at the sight of a calm Hinata.

"You know that I don't mind." She then realised that the small girl wasn't eating. "I thought that you would be starving." Tenten said, worried about the girl sitting across from her.

"I guess my appetite shrank after all that time." Hinata answered before starting her meal. She didn't want the girl to worry.

"If you ever feel like talking about what happened in that cave, remember that I'm always here to listen." Tenten said, placing her hand on Hinata's, squeezing it.

"I just want to forget about it." Hinata said. Then she looked up at Tenten for the first time since dinner had begun and smiled. The girl across from her did the same.

'Maybe I should just speak to them.' Ino thought as she watched the girls interact. 'Tenten and I get along and that girl seems reasonable.' She knocked on the door and waited. A few seconds later, Tenten opened it and stared questioningly at Ino.

"This is a pleasant surprise. How can I help you Ino?" she asked, smiling.

"I would like to have a word with your friend over there." Ino explained, motioning to Hinata, who was still eating. As soon as Hinata realised that she was wanted she rose from the chair and walked over to the door, standing next to Tenten in an attempt to feel at ease.

"What about?" Hinata asked, her voice remaining rather monotonous.

"Well, I would like to know why you seem so familiar." Ino explained. The more she learned about this girl the better.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. All I can say is that someone in this village is not who they say they are." Hinata explained. Ino wracked her brain for an answer. She was thinking so hard that she didn't realise that Tenten had shut the door.

The next day, Ino was still trying to think of what the girl knew.

"Someone in this village is not who they say they are." Ino repeated, gaining a questioning look from Shikamaru.

"What was that?"

"The girl told me that someone in this village is not who they say they are." Ino explained.

"Well, have you noticed anyone's personality shift? If you have then we will have a clue to this girl's identity."Shikamaru deduced. Ino search her memory for any strange behaviour.

"_WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING… Ah! Sorry Ino."_

"Hinata yelled at me yesterday. She never yells at anyone."

"Maybe Hinata isn't who she says she is." Shikamaru mused. "Maybe you are thinking too much about personality and not enough about appearance in the case of this girl." Ino thought more about the mystery girl, specifically, her appearance.

"That new girl has the Byakugan. She is also rather small and has black hair… Wait a minute."

Shikamaru nodded. "Are you trying to tell me that the girl is Hinata?"

"I don't know… am I?" Shikamaru said, and at that, Ino was off.


End file.
